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Tahoe climber
climber
Davis these days
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Mar 10, 2011 - 12:32pm PT
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great story, thanks for posting!
tc
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 10, 2011 - 05:30pm PT
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Mark,
When I started law school at UCLA in 1976, I seldom got to the Valley. When I went to take the bar exam in July of 1979, I stopped by REI on the way to Long Beach and picked up a copy of Mountain Magazine that had the article about you and Max entitled "States of the Art." Looking at those pictures of you on Hangdog Flyer, Phoenix, etc. left a big impression on me, and showed me just how much climbing had progressed.
Great work then. Great post now.
Thanks greatly!
John
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tonym
climber
Oklahoma
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Mar 10, 2011 - 09:36pm PT
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Ditto that! Best thread I have seen thus far on ST! I have been thinking about it all day! The real deal for sure and how inspiring!
Thanks for posting.
~T Mayse
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Kalimon
Trad climber
Ridgway, CO
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Mar 10, 2011 - 10:24pm PT
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Thanks for the photos Mark! Nice YES T-shirt you're sporting as well. You and Max were on fire during that period . . . I saw a slide show you guys did in the Bay Area and will always remember your humble demeanor.
As for the Beth Rodden reference . . . seems like she uses a tensioned lead rope that allows her claims of "free" ascents. Just saying.
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JohnnyG
climber
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Mar 10, 2011 - 11:16pm PT
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Mark's post is pretty sweet. Awesome really.
How sweet would it be to hear from ol' Jardine. Maybe he has written about it before.
And pardon my lack of history knowledge, but this was the first 5.13 climbed, right? So was Mark the second person to climb 5.13? And perhaps the only one to climb a .13 with just passive pro?
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WBraun
climber
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Mar 10, 2011 - 11:19pm PT
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Jardine hang-dogged 100 days on it before doing it .....
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 10, 2011 - 11:25pm PT
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As others have said: I can't believe what I miss on Supertopo. Between this, the Tales of Power thread, and almost enough photos of desert cracks and Wide Vedauwoo, why don't we just live here?
I like piecing together the eras of Yosemite climbing history from these posts. Just on a personal level, I dropped out of Yosemite climbing just before this in '72 and this is what I had fantasies about, not necessarily this climb, but a climb like this.
Nice post Mark. I had no idea.
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Mar 11, 2011 - 12:36am PT
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R.J., not hangdogging for the moment (Meyers photo)
I can only think of a few other images of The Phoenix. Patagonia ran a shot a while back, and there's that one of Peter Croft on it in the Heinz Zak book. Any others out there? Please, more stories from the ashes!
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Mar 11, 2011 - 10:58am PT
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There's full-on video of Suzuki in Masters of Stone I, and a little of Rodden on it in the Meltdown segment of Dosage V.
Blitzo pic of Price from Mtn Proj:
Gaines pic of Suzuki also on the Mtn Proj:
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slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
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Mar 14, 2011 - 07:05pm PT
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Hey mark- It's not on the same level, but how about some stories regarding the ffa of White Eye at Cathedral in'78 ?
I was a beginner then and was wondering "what's that route ?"
A stout 12 for sure and still rejecting people 33 years later.
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scuffy b
climber
dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene
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Mar 17, 2011 - 04:41pm PT
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Did Bill Price get it on sight?
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Mar 17, 2011 - 05:02pm PT
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Re Bill Price, I don't know. I asked about his ascent about a month ago and no new info yet.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 06:00pm PT
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I seem to remember Bill did, but not sure. He sure was smooth though
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Mar 17, 2011 - 06:02pm PT
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Bill did not get it onsight, but his ascent was amazing none the less. I think he went down to attempt it a couple of times. I was with him on one attempt, along with Steve Hong, who was hanging in the Valley cause he wanted to learn how to jam, (he learned quite well!).
On maybe the third time down there, he went up to try the hard traverse again and surprised himself by sending it easily, he hung on the first good jam in the main crack and had the belayer swing in the rappel rope, then he hauled up the rack with one hand and his teeth, then sent the whole thing! Truly heroic, as he hadn't been on the upper crack before, though rapping in and jugging out you do get to see it.
Bill was incredibly talented, and a very humble, friendly guy as well.
Peter
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Mar 17, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
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That sounds like something Bill would and could do!
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CrackAddict
Trad climber
Joshua Tree
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Mar 17, 2011 - 06:58pm PT
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Wow - fantastic pictures! Thanks Mark. You don't see many pictures of this route mainly because it is a logistical nightmare just to get to it, let alone do a photo shoot (unless you have a good telephoto lens).
Phoenix is about like doing 2-3 laps on Equinox followed by an overhanging lunatic fringe. Definitely not a "giveme" even at 5.13 IMO.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Mar 17, 2011 - 06:59pm PT
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Did Steve get it too? He became a monster crack climber.
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Mar 17, 2011 - 08:58pm PT
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Steve didn't get very far that day in 1979, neither did I, we were both stumped by the traverse. Steve followed me on Tales of Power that week, and we did the 3rd free ascent of West Face of El Cap the same week as the FFA, and Mark and Max doing the 2nd.
A few years later, Steve got extremely good at cracks as we know...maybe he went back years later for a rematch on the Phoenix, I don't know.
Peter
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 14, 2011 - 07:11pm PT
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bump, for obvious reasons.
Mark; really your writeup and photos can't be surpassed!
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Jun 14, 2011 - 07:19pm PT
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Kalimon:
As for the Beth Rodden reference . . . seems like she uses a tensioned lead rope that allows her claims of "free" ascents. Just saying.
Trying to understand what this means. What makes you think she (and TC, and the film crew) lied about her Phoenix ascent? Seems unlikely to me, but who knows. Can you back it up?
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